March 04, 2009

Slack Economy Means Boom for Law Schools

The number of students applying to Washington-area law schools has surged as the economy sunk. George Washington University Law School’s applicant numbers are up 8 percent from last academic year, and the University of Virginia School of Law’s applicants have risen more than 10 percent. Georgetown University Law Center, meanwhile, received 12 percent more applications than last year.

Andrew Cornblatt, Georgetown’s dean of admissions, says the law school extended its deadline to accommodate last-minute applicants coping with lay-offs and other bad economic news. The school pushed the cutoff back a month to March 2. Cornblatt says his office received roughly 1,000 applications on Feb. 2 and Feb. 3 combined, a sign that people were rushing to get in before the original deadline.

“I didn’t want to shut anybody out,” he says. “In this climate, everything’s in flux, and we want to try to be accommodating.” Georgetown has extended its deadline “often” in the past, he says. “Washington D.C. has become an even more attractive place for young people to come,” he says.

Cornblatt’s office received close to 11,700 applications this academic year, up from around 10,500 last year. But in the end, Georgetown hasn’t changed its admissions target. By accepting 2,300 students, Cornblatt plans to hit his goal of enrolling 575 students.